WASIM Akram woke up sore but happy today after keeping Lancashire's Benson and Hedges Cup hopes alive.

Captaining the side on his first county appearance since 1995, Wasim hit an unbeaten half century and then showed glimpses of magic with the ball to win this third Gold Award.

But it was two brilliant pieces of fielding by Graham Lloyd and Richard Green which allowed Lancashire to scrape home by losing fewer wickets in yet another amazing finish to rank with any of last year's jail breaks.

Warwickshire were cruising towards Lancashire's total of 208-8 at 192-6 with a seventh wicket stand of 104 between Trevor Penney and Graeme Welch.

Then Wasim bowled Penney and Ian Austin also grabbed a wicket, and in the 49th over Wasim beat Allan Donald with five consecutive deliveries to leave Warwickshire needing five off the last over.

Austin, of course, relishes these situations and opened up with a dot to Welch. But the all-rounder struck his next ball straight down the ground for a certain boundary. Or so it seemed. Lloyd did not give it up and hurled himself full length to stop the ball just short of the rope and save two precious runs.

Welch took a single from the next leaving two needed from three and then Donald aimed a wild swing at Austin and was bowled, to give Lancashire the advantage on wickets.

New batsman Gladstone Small couldn't get Austin's next ball away so now it was simple - two runs needed, one ball left. Small struck it firmly towards Green on the cover boundary and set off for the first of two runs.

There was immense pressure on Green, who had made a number of nervous errors in the field, but he produced the goods when it mattered with a clean pick-up and perfect throw which allowed Warren Hegg to complete the run out with yards to spare.

Lancashire remain next to bottom of the six team group but if they beat Minor Counties and Worcestershire in their remaining two fixtures, they still have an outside chance of qualifying for the quarter finals if other results go their way.

"We have to win two games and anything can happen," reflected Wasim. "But we needed this win to get our season going.

"I had not batted since the Sharjah final and although I started OK by the end I was struggling with my body getting stiffer. I am very sore."

That stiffness forced Wasim to leave the field for a few overs during the Warwickshire innings and he joked: "At the age of 31 it is not so easy. But I was pleased at the end because I started to run in properly."

The stiffness must make Wasim a doubt for Lancashire's next game, in the Axa Life League at Derbyshire tomorrow, when Mike Watkinson and Glen Chapple will still be missing.

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